The DD3 Magnum - totally awesome

I have been paddling for about 6 years starting on the v10 sport which was a great entry level boat for me as I had a background in competitive sports my whole life. Once I progressed I moved onto the V10 - red stripe/seam. It too was a really great boat for comfort and speed. LIving in Sydney I had ample opportunity to try most skis as either some of my friends have them or that we are lucky to have distributors. All of the skis had their good points. But i was not looking for the top end skis - v12/14 , Elite, Uno, Albatross - as I only paddle twice a week, and three times when the wife permits.
I decided to give the local manufacture DD3 a try. earlier I was misled by some of the distributors that DD3 were an inferior product. When i decided to try I gave the Australis and Magnum a go. The Australis a little too tippy for me. When I jumped in the Magnum I could not believe the speeds I could maintain, how stable it was and how well it was made. I was so happy with the Magnum that I ordered 2 carbon models, one for me and the other for my brother who is returning from living overseas. One ski weighing 10.8kg and the other 11.2kg. I understand the heavier one is due more gelcoat because it had more of a design.
I know that everybody has their choice in skis and many people are brand loyal. But if you are willing to try, do what I did. Contact the guys at at dd3. I am happy that i tried the smaller company. The magnum i believe ( and hopefully my garmin is not biased towards brands ) is the fastest beginner / Intermediate boat on the market.
If anyone on this forum has tried / purchased one also I would like to hear.

Ben
Ps - fantastic website, really helpful

100% agree with the review above. The new DD3 line is simply superb. i have been paddling the Australis for the past 3 weeks whilst i wait for the new Maxx to be completed.

The Australis must be paddled to be believed. For many years people have been saying that an 18ft ocean ski needs to be built. This one is awesome. I paddle a lot, with many NSW and Australian Ski and Ironman medalist and every single one of them has commented on how great it looks and how well it runs in the water. For anybody considering entering the Coolangatta Gold or Spec ski endurance races the Australis is the only way to go.

Keep up the great work DD3.

I tried all the skis in the club wardrobe and then tried the DD3 MAX. The DD3 MAX spec ski is very stable and I was able to hold it on the wave. Not bad for a rank amateur. It is fast and a well set up ski with some well thought out features. Great ski from DD3

I have owned skies from Epic (2x), Carbonology, Think (2x), Vajda, and DD3 (2x Albatross).
From my experience, DD3 recently offers good "durable design", especially their carbon lay-ups, robust, great quality, great performance. I am 1.92cm (6'3) and the Albatross just fits great. The other brands are great too, every ski has its own advantages.
BUT (coming back to DD3) accessories could be updated, and their service lacks performance. Most of us paddlers develop kind of a brand loyalty and DD3 unfortunately haven't managed to get to the same level as their competitors (maybe DD needs to dedicate more of his personal time to the company). If they could get that right (management & marketing!!) then they could eventually become a real challenger, not just in Australia!

DD3 Magnum - totally agree, totally awesome. Last year after learning on another ski for 12 months I purchased a carbon Magnum to paddle the Hawkesbury Classic. 2 friends and I tested the Magnum against 2 other skis, one of which is marketed as an elite ski for experienced paddlers. We all agreed the Magnum was fastest and most stable. You'd call us beginners, maybe intermediate paddlers at best - I purchased a Magnum and so, did one of my mates. The real test of the ski was the Hawkesbury Race where I spent the last 20km passing people on V12s, Elites etc. A lot of the credit has to go to the fast, light, stable Magnum. There's a table from last years race plotting times against various ski types. Plot the Magnum, at 10h 10 mins for an intermediate ski, and it almost looks like a data error! Thanks DD3, love your product.

Dead right about marketing Ole. Straight to the DD3 Magnum page and a very brief blurb, no photo's, two dead links for For Sale products bottom right and the specs "Dimensions: 5.8 m long" - that's it. Page that comes up when clicking on the DDT home page link for Products> Surf Skis doesn't include the Magnum on the Surfski page.

Pages from links to the DD3 Maxx and Turbo are limited or empty. (Turbo: "Photos will be uploaded shortly. Stay tuned." April 2014.)

In all of the images I can't determine what adjustability there is, if any, for the footplate.

I researched DD3 about a year ago before purchasing an SES. I was really dead keen to buy local and to be able to support an Aussie company but what I see on the site now doesn't seem to have changed since then, nor would I be persuaded again to buy local.

Sorry chaps at DD3, not trying to be a pr*ck, but marketing really important when you can't view the product itself.

Got to agree with Watto regarding the DD3 website. Way out of date, no specs and no prices. In this day and age the internet is your first point of reference and just having the basics is a must. I'm thinking he has done himself out of a fair bit of business just by not keeping the website up to date.

He obviously makes a good ski from what we hear from the occasional poster here on this forum but if I can't compare prices, specs and up to date photos I'm not going to look any further. Just my two cents worth.

I've seen both the Magnum and the Australis on the water and they're great - the Magnum is a particularly fast boat for a beginner boat.

The new boats, especially the Australis that Allum is referring to is just a high quality ski, the finish, the adjustable foot plate, the overall feel of the ski is great.

I also agree with the other comments on the website, it's got to be up to date as they're great skis, they need better marketing. I understand the team at DD3 has grown, so maybe the marketing is being addressed.

I have never heard of DD3 before - but have got to admit I sure would like to try one of the Magnum skis myself. However, considering the comments and what I saw on the website I don't think they will hit the USA shores anytime soon. Bummer.

A mate of mine has the Maxx. Nice boat. And best of all he's happy with it. Now!
As for advertising. DD3 is getting a good wrap here. I do find it interesting that the glowing reviews are coming from first time posters. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Just an observation. I had a DD3 XLR8 a few years ago. As far as boats go, I loved it. Till The nose fell off it. I'm told the build quality is much better now. So would I get another one? Yes if I lived close to Sydney.

Hi Just wondering if you have had a look at eh DD3 Paddle sports Facebook page?

I think this is the link but I am sure you could just do a search in the search box for dd3paddlesports on Facebook.

A heap of stuff there!

www.facebook.com/pages/DD3-Paddle-Sports/165820866814965

Andrew

See this link to another thread that casts doubt over the authenticity of some of the posts on this thread.

www.surfski.info/forum/19-boats/18124-su...-name-and-shame.html

Damien here from DD3. Thanks for all the comments informing me that my website is outdated and that we need to market our skis better.
I work hard to provide Australian made ocean skis to people mostly in Sydney and along the east coast of Australia. All out products are sourced from Australia (except for the BG pedals from South Africa). At the moment we don't export and the cost sending them to our west coast is too expensive.
I am fortunate to have two great professional/qualified boat builders make our product. I don't make them myself, I am a school teacher, not a marketer or webmaster.
Gotta go to work now.

Damien, we are on the whole a very supportive bunch.

I'm pretty sure that everyone including your big competition like to see a little guy making boats and wants to support you. The criticisms of your outdated website and problems with marketing were IMO made to inspire you to fix things up.

As a school teacher I'm sure you could find one of the kids at school who could do some website maintenance for you for very little cost.

Marketing is a matter of open honest communication, doesn't have to be anything flashy. Being part of this forum is probably as good as it gets.

The sarcastic first line of your response does you no favours, that and the first time bull$hit posters simply makes me never want to consider buying one of your probably very good ski's.

What a shame.

There was no sarcasim intended. We are addressing website and marketing.

Sorry I misinterpreted. Good luck with the venture.

Nice post D17. Why not spend some time and post some info on your boats. Now there is name to the company, I can't see why anyone would object to you posting some info. Have only ever seen one dd3 in the west and the only thing I can tell you about it is that it has nice blue stickers.

While I love the Epics and others - I enjoy being able to get a ski that doesn't look like everyone else's. That is one reason I like the Huki's (besides performance) and Stellar skis - at least you can get some level of paint/looks customized to make it your own.

One thing I noticed right off about the DD3 photos on the website were the absolutely wild and crazy paint jobs - wow. Like I said before, a real bummer they aren't out here in the wilds of New England.

Good luck on your journey, DD3.

See www.surfski.info/forum/2-announcements/1...bility.html?start=20

Unabashed, upfront cool marketing for my money. "Here's our product, this is what I/we/some reckon it can do. Check it out."

Adam had a Think open day last year here in Perth; stack of boats, go for it. I appreciate that, the opportunity to get in a heap of boats and just go for a paddle. Mate and I paddle across to Pt Walter where skis were being demo-ed and as well as paddling next to each other in different Think boats, we also paddled our own boat against each other in a couple of Thinks.

As many comments on this site reinforce, it's not so much the brand but the sport. Asking ourselves how we can get the best out of what we do.

I have two Stellars, love em both, but could I be paddling a Think? Absolutely. Top quality boat with a brilliantly nuanced range. Echoing some comments here, we're spoiled for choice generally in terms of ski range available, though obviously geographical constraints limit many. Maybe that's a part of the problem here - so many boats, so relatively few customers.

In relation to this thread then, D17 (I've a teaching background too Damien - what do you teach mate?) has to ship boats across/around Australia for demo purposes (silly idea considering bang for buck) and so balanced reviews, decent video clips, good and relevant pics either through surf ski.info or DD3 site must surely provide the the marketplace with enough info to help people make properly informed ski choices.